1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a method for production of retinoid from a microorganism with retinoid producing efficacy.
2. Description of the Related Art
Retinoid belongs to a class of lipophilic isoprenoid molecules chemically associated with vitamin A. The retinoid includes β-inone cyclic and polyunsaturated branched chains, together with alcohol (e.g., retinol), aldehyde (e.g., retinal), carboxylic acid (e.g., retinoic acid) or ester (e.g., retinyl acetate) functional groups. It is well known that such functional groups play an essential role in health care of a human body such as eyesight protection, bone growth and regeneration, anti-oxidation effects and prevention of skin aging, and may also reduce danger of cancer.
In recent years, the retinoid has attracted a great interest as an efficient raw material for cosmetics and medicaments useful for wrinkle improvement and treatment of skin disease. A scale of retinoid market is estimated at about 16 billion dollars over the world. Chemically synthesized retinoid is a representative raw material commercially available in the market. Retinol is produced by acidification or hydrolysis of retinal which was chemically synthesized through reduction of a pentadiene derivative. However, such a chemical process as described above entails disadvantages such as complicated purification processes and generation of undesirable byproducts. An animal creates retinoid using carotinoid obtained from fruits and vegetables, while a plant cannot synthesize retinoid. An overall path of retinoid synthesis is possibly embodied only in a specific microorganism that contains bacteriorhodopsin or proteorhodopsin having retinal as a prosthetic group. Nevertheless, the microorganism generates a protein combination form of retinal, thus not being preferable in mass production of free retinoids. Until now, although partially restricted attempts using enzymes for biological production have been executed, these have not yet gained successful results. Accordingly, there is still a need for development of a biotechnological method using metabolically transformed microorganisms in order to produce retinoid.
The retinoid is chemically unstable due to a conjugated and active double bond, and easily oxidized and becomes isomeric by heat, oxygen and light. Further, the retinoid is liable to be degraded through retinoic acid in biological aspects. Accordingly, an effective method for production of retinoid has yet to be developed.